Special Note to FFN Readers: This chapter was supposed to go up on Tuesday, but for whatever reason FFN refused to let me into my account management page no matter what I did. As a result, you're getting the chapter that was supposed to be uploaded on Tuesday now, and you'll get the chapter that was supposed to go up today, tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I think on the outline I made for this fic, this chapter, the one before it, and the one after it were all planned to be one chapter. Crazy, right?
Saturday, October 12th, 2008
Bahamian Waters
On the way to the main dining hall, Sam and Dean explained to Oswin everything they saw. Although, they did have to lie about how they got to be below deck in the first place. The story that they came up with was that they had seen a clearly distressed Hannah going down into the machine room and wanted to make sure she was okay. They got down there just in time to see a metal panel break against the force of the water pressure and strike her across the head. That story probably wouldn't hold up under scrutiny, but that wasn't the important part. They told the truth explained the flooding situation as best they could. It got the point across – the ship was definitely sinking.
Rightfully alarmed by what she had heard, Oswin took action as soon as they reached their destination. She sent two people down to check out the situation in the machine room. Since it was clear that the flooding wasn't something that could be put under control or stopped, the only thing they could do was get an idea of how fast the water was flowing in. That way they could maybe get an idea of how much time they had to evacuate.
At that point, Skye informed Oswin that Ed had been heading for the bridge before they had split up. That prompted Oswin to send two more people down to the bridge, both to retrieve Ed and to try to take control of the ship. Though it was doubtful it was actually possible given that there was hardly anyone left on the ship that knew of its operations, they still needed to take a chance and do something. At the very least, maybe they could locate a working radio and try to send out an S.O.S. message. If they could get in contact with the Coast Guard, then they'd maybe stand a chance of getting out of this alive.
With that, Oswin thanked them for the information and set about managing the situation. A crew member came over and handed them each a lifejacket. Unsure of what else to do, the three of them found a spot along a far wall and sat down on the ground.
Almost as soon as her butt hit the floor, Skye slumped over and passed out. The two brothers instantly checked her pulse and temperature. Everything seemed normal. Likely, she just passed out from exhaustion. A simple enough explanation, but it still left the brothers feeling concerned. In fact, it concerned Sam enough that he took it upon himself to go back down to their cabin to get the basket of donated clothes and toiletries. Dean didn't think that it was a good idea, but before he could express that, Sam had already taken off.
As soon as Sam was gone, Dean's expression fell. Something was off with his brother. He could just feel it. If it wasn't the shaky look in his eyes, Sam's seemingly constant need to keep moving gave it away. Initially Dean thought he was just getting seasick, but if that were the case, wouldn't he be acting more run-down? He couldn't help but compare Sam's symptoms to Skye's, even though he knew they were going through two completely different things.
Speaking of Skye, a few minutes after Sam left she returned to consciousness and picked herself up off the ground. She blearily asked what happened, and Dean assured her that she hadn't missed anything. Taking that as explanation enough, she pulled her knees up to her chest and slouched forward to rest her head on them. She may have passed out again – Dean couldn't quite tell – but she looked much more comfortable that way than she had lying on the ground. For Dean, that was reason enough to just leave her alone.
Feeling antsy, Dean got up and began to walk around the room. He watched more passengers flood in and be handed lifejackets by the few remaining crew members. He could see the nurse assessing Hannah's condition from were she'd been laid out on one of the dining tables. He saw Oswin trying to organize all of the chaos; answering passengers' questions and assigning different tasks to crew members Dean took all of this in and tried to assess whether they had a chance of thwarting whatever the demon had been trying to do.
His immediate gut reaction was that no, they wouldn't be. Most of the crew was gone. They were down one, potentially two lifeboats if he believed some of the whispers around the dining hall. Rather than helping the situation, the captain was crying in a corner of the room. The only person who seemed to be taking charge was the entertainment director. As far as they knew, no one was manning the bridge or calling for help. They were still in the middle of a storm with no idea of when it might come to an end. Worst of all, there were still close to five-hundred people on the ship and only two-hundred needed to die for the seal to break. All of that added up to an impossible situation and Dean couldn't see any real way out of it. At least, not in a way that he and Sam could do anything about.
He felt useless, which was not a feeling Dean Winchester was accustomed to feeling. Sure, if they had their guns, if they had their equipment, if they had the Impala and the arsenal of supernatural defenses they kept in the trunk, maybe they'd be able to do something. Dean would even prefer it for that demon to show back up. Sure, that would put them in an even worse position, but at least then he would have a clear target to hit. As it stood, though, there wasn't much that Dean could do, and he was left feeling absolutely frustrated.
Unbiddenly, the question Dean had asked Castiel when they first met came to mind, along with its answer.
"Why would an angel rescue me from Hell?"
"Because God commanded it," Cas had answered. "Because we have work for you."
Thinking about this now, Dean couldn't help but scoff at the entire notion.
What a bang-up job I'm doing, he thought. Can't kill a stupid demon, can't stop a stupid seal from breaking, can't save anyone. God really picked right when he picked me.
At least this time he was being haunted by a scene that he knew for sure was real. That was an upside.
Eventually, Dean came back around to where he started. By that time, Sam had come back and was looking even more shaky than when he left. Skye, meanwhile, was picking through the basket. She had already pulled a University of Michigan sweatshirt on (thankfully covering up the "Hello Kinky" shirt) and was presumably trying to find the medications and toiletries she needed. They both looked up when Dean approached, Sam rushing to speak.
"You won't believe how bad it's gotten down there." Dean frowned.
"Christ," Dean said. "Is it already flooding down there?" The dining hall was only one floor up from their cabin. If that floor started flooding, then there'd be no telling how much longer they had until the flood waters reached them. Thankfully, though, Sam shook his head.
"Not quite yet," he said. "But I'd imagine it won't be too long before it does. I looked down the door to the machine room and the water was only a few steps away from reaching the next floor."
Dean wanted to curse but only held himself back for the sake of the frightened people all around them who were likely to spook into doing something drastic given the right provocation.
"We've got to get these people off the ship," he said eventually. It was the most obvious statement, but Sam could see his brother's sanity was hanging on by a thread and only nodded in agreement.
"That'd be a start," he said before hesitantly adding, "but I don't think it'd change anything."
Dean had a feeling he was going to hear that, but that still didn't make it any better. His face expressed as much to Sam before Skye cut in and asked, "what do you mean it wouldn't change anything?"
They'd already explained what was left out of the original story to Skye, so they didn't need to backtrack. They just cut to the chase and told her what they suspected; that even if everyone were to get on the lifeboats, the demons would just sink those, too. That made Skye frown.
"Are you sure it's demons?" she asked. "Because it sounds like the one possessing Hannah was the only one here."
"The only one that we found, maybe," Sam clarified, but Skye shook her head.
"I mean, maybe," she amended. "But this seems a little… I don't know, not thought out? Like, shouldn't they have made a bigger scene?"
Dean thought about that. She could have a point, but at the same time it sounded like wishful thinking. It looked like they were following a trend of Murphy's Law, and it wasn't going to end anytime soon. Demons sinking the lifeboats would fit right in with that.
Another sharp whistle penetrated the air. Once again, everyone's attention turned to Oswin, who was standing on a chair in the center of the room. She called for everyone to listen up and silence fell quickly as the terrified passengers obeyed her command. Certain that she had their attention, Oswin began to explain the evacuation plan. She did so slowly and carefully, making sure that everyone understood each point.
She explained that the ship had a total of eight lifeboats that had a capacity of ninety-nine passengers each. However, the ship's officers had already fled with two of the lifeboats. That left them with six boats and five hundred ninety-four available seats. That was only a few dozen more than the number of people believed to be onboard. If they were counting right, they'd be cutting it close but still able to get everyone evacuated safely.
Oswin then started explaining safety procedures, followed by the usual stuff; stay calm, form a single-file line, no pushing and shoving, etc. It was declared that the first person in line would be the ship's nurse along with the still-unconscious Hannah. She urgently needed more serious medical attention, so it made sense for them to go first. As soon as this was announced, Dean turned to Skye.
"You need to get on that first boat." Skye's mouth immediately fell open in protest.
"No way," she said. "I'm staying here to help." Just as she said that last word, Skye keened forward, clutching at her stomach.
"You really think you can help like that?" Skye didn't answer, biting her lip and squeezing her eyes shut against the pain. Dean sighed. "You really want to help? Okay. You can help by keeping an eye on Hannah." Opening her eyes again, Skye's expression turned to one of confusion.
"Why?"
"Hannah was possessed," Dean explained. "She's not in a good state. She's probably gonna die…" He swallowed hard at that and reminded himself that there was nothing they could have possibly done to save her.
"She's probably not going to be possessed again," Sam continued for him. "Demons don't usually go for damaged goods if there are plenty of other meatsuits around. Still, we'd feel a lot better if you just kept an eye on her and made sure."
It wasn't the best excuse they could have come up with. In fact, it was probably the equivalent of sending the hysterical husband to rip up sheets and boil water while his wife gave birth, but in the end did it really even matter? If it got her off the boat and out of the way, then it'd be worth it. Slowly, Skye nodded her head.
"Okay," she said. "I'll do it."
Dean looked at Sam and saw that his brother was thinking the exact same thing he was thinking. If something happened and the lifeboat sank…
Given the conversation they had, it was impossible not to think about. However, staying on the ship meant certain death. They had to trust that Skye knew enough to keep herself safe, even in her exhausted state. There was no other alternative. They might not be getting off the ship, but at least they could make sure that she did. She was their responsibility and if Sam and Dean could get her off the ship alive, then it wouldn't feel like they'd entirely failed.
Skye managed to be first in line for the lifeboat, right behind the nurse. She might have had to cut in line to do it but faced no repercussions for it despite Oswin's previous warnings. Likely, the crew allowed it because they were aware that she had been sick before any of this happened and probably wanted to stick with the nurse. None of the passengers put up a fuss about it either, so it all worked out.
Shortly after they began lining up, one of the people Oswin sent to the bridge to check on Ed returned. They communicated that Ed had been able to contact the Bahamian Navy. In addition to sending out ships to conduct rescue operations, they were also going to get into contact with the US Coast Guard. Although they were over a hundred miles away, the US Coast Guard had resources that the Bahamian Navy didn't. Namely rescue helicopters. Hopefully it wouldn't be necessary, but it would be good to have it on-hand in the event of the worst-case scenario.
Granted, the worst-case scenario in this situation seemed to be literal Hell on Earth, but Skye was trying hard not to think about that.
It took Oswin and the other remaining crew members a few minutes to figure out how to lower the lifeboats to the loading platform. When it did, the cables seemed to move painfully slowly. Skye worried that it would stop before it got down to their level. It did manage to make it, before it got down to their level. It did manage to make it, but another problem quickly presented itself. There was nothing to keep the smaller boat secure to the side of the ship.
Technically, there could have been some device or piece of machinery available that could've done the job, but if there was Oswin and the others missed it completely. The boat swung wildly back and forth by its cables in time to the shifting waves below. A couple of crew members reached out to try to steady it, but they weren't strong enough to hold on or reach out for it safely. They had to wait for the waters to calm enough to pull the boat back.
After both the boat and the seas stayed calm for a few moments, Oswin gave the signal for them to start boarding. It might not be the wisest idea to start boarding as so, but they were short on time and options. The nurse went first, carrying Hannah by her shoulders. She was accompanied by Aisha, who supported Hannah's legs and the lower half of her body. They quickly crossed the threshold together and got Hannah settled as safely as they could on the floor. Oswin then nodded for Skye to go forward.
Skye was able to make it over the threshold, but before she could sit down another large wave rolled through. She was instantly knocked off-kilter and fell sideways. Her hip collided with the edge of a metal bench, and she let out a cry of pain. Aisha – who was already seated – offered her a hand up and Skye took it gratefully.
Allowing the other woman to guide her to the into a seat, Skye set her basket of supplies between her legs, put her head in her hands, and tried her best to calm down. Mother nature wasn't going to make it that easy on her, though, as another wave came crashing through. The boat rocked relentlessly from side to side, slamming into the ship at least twice. Skye could hear screaming coming from the passengers outside and it made her stomach twist. It all but made her expect the boat to drop out from under her and be plunged into the water below.
However, that never happened. Eventually, the boat's swaying slowed and then stopped. Skye pried her hands away from her face and looked up. Onboard the ship, Oswin could be heard shouting. For what, though, Skye couldn't hear. Her ears were ringing too loud. Slowly, she could feel the boat being pulled flush against the ship. Everything went still for a moment. Then, Sam appeared in the doorway.
He and Skye locked eyes for a few seconds. Sam didn't say anything but gave what Skye took to be a reassuring nod. He then looked away, positioning himself so that one leg was inside the boat and the other remained on the deck of the ship. It took Skye a moment to figure out what he was doing, but eventually realized that he was trying to hold the boat in place.
Skye thought that might not be a good idea. If another round of wild surf came through, wouldn't he end up getting hurt? Then she remembered that the boat got pulled closer to the ship before Sam stuck his leg in. Most likely, they found a piece of equipment that could hold the boat in place and were just having him stand there to help steady it. He was probably chosen because he had the longest legs. Still, the boat continued to shake somewhat. A few times it became so much that Sam had to pull his leg out of the boat and retreat back to the deck. However, for the most part the boat remained stable enough for passengers to embark.
They all boarded one at a time and moved as quickly as they could. Sam made himself as small as he possibly could to allow people to cross the threshold while Oswin stood a few steps away, counting every person that passed by her. Before long, the boat began to fill up. The seat on Skye's other side was taken by an older man with a cough. That boat's interior was entirely metal, so it made every single noise reverberate in a way that caused her head to pound.
Worst of all, the more people that packed into the space, the harder it got to breathe. It was just getting to the point where Skye was starting to think that she might not be able to take it…
"Ninety-one, ninety-two, ninety-three… Ninety-four? Ninety-four! I think that's enough!"
Skye turned to see Oswin standing in the doorway with Sam looking at her skeptically.
"I thought the lifeboats were meant to carry ninety-nine." Oswin waved off that concern.
"Those numbers aren't exact, just an estimate of what the maximum safe weight would be. I think this might be as close as we can get to that without risking the boat capsizing."
Sam still seemed hesitant, but ultimately agreed with Oswin. He stepped back out of the boat while Oswin called over to a man standing near the front of the boat. Skye turned to watch him get into a raised seat that looked like it was meant for a driver. By the time she looked back at the doors, they were sliding shut. Skye got one last look at Sam through the water-stained plexiglass window before whatever holding the boat in place was released.
For a few scary moments, the boat swung freely. A lot of people screamed all at once, leaving Skye turned between covering her ears and gripping he seat. Beside her, she could hear Aisha calling for everyone to remain calm, but it didn't do much to help. Although, no one got up out of their seats or started a real panic, so that was good. However, that might have been because fear had paralyzed everyone enough to keep them from doing so.
Eventually, the boat's sway started to steady. Not entirely, but enough so that the people still onboard the ship felt it safe enough for them to start lowering the lifeboat. The sensation made Skye's stomach drop and she was sure that if she wasn't on Dramamine, she would have thrown up. However, that was nothing compared to the feeling she got once the boat hit the water. To put it simply, the tide was much more noticeable in the small boat than it had been in the big ship.
Skye didn't pay any attention to the process, but she knew the loud clangs she heard was the sounds of the wires used to lower the lifeboat had been detached. Not too long after that, the sounds of an engine starting filled the space and the boat lurched forward. A few people let out gasps and one person even clapped. However, the rest seemed to understand that any celebration at this point would be premature. Until their feet were on sold ground, they weren't safe.
Grabbing her knees, Skye braced herself. Something told her that this was going to be a long and bumpy ride.
After launching that first boat, the process seemed to go much smoother. Oswin and the guy working the controls finally figured out how to read them, and now that they knew how to clamp the boats into place, they could load people onto them without having to stop and wait for the tide to roll through. Of course, the boats still rocked a little bit, but Sam sticking his leg inside helped.
Dean, meanwhile, was helping to clamp the boats into place. It was strenuous work, but he wasn't doing it alone. He had three other people helping him – all of them deckhands who knew how to handle the equipment better than he did. He was just there to lend his strength. It wasn't like there were many people around who could.
They went about the process like this: Oswin and the other guy would lower the boat to the platform. Dean the deckhands would then clamp it into place. Then Oswin and Sam would start to load passengers onto the boat. Once they had placed the maximum amount of people they could onboard, Sam and Oswin would back away. Dean and the others would unclamp the boat, and then Oswin and her assistant at the controls would lower the boat into the water.
They'd repeat the process a total of four times. The first time they loaded a total of ninety-four people on the boat. The second time, they had ninety-six. The third had ninety-two.
The fourth boat they loaded had another ninety-four onboard. Dean had been roughly keeping track of how many people were left. The number he got was close to one-hundred ninety-four. If he was doing the math right that meant they would be cutting it close, but there was a good chance that they could fit everyone on the last two lifeboats. This could all be over soon.
After loading the fourth boat, the crowd began moving towards the next loading platform. While they did so, a huge wave rolled through. Everyone was already used to the turbulence and knew how to brace themselves, but this wave was something else. One man slipped and someone else grabbed him before they fell off the ship entirely. When it was over, the tilt of the ship had worsened, making it harder for everyone to stay upright and walk normally.
They made it to the next platform and Oswin and her assistant took their positions behind the controls. Everything seemed to be going fine at first, but then Oswin glanced down at one of the displays and let out a gasp followed by a string of curses. This reaction didn't go unnoticed.
"What's wrong?" Someone in the crowd asked. It took a few seconds for Oswin to respond, and when she did, she was only barely able to keep the distress out of her voice.
"The ship is listing at twenty degrees," she said.
When no further explanation was forthcoming, several people in the crowd demanded to know what that meant. Oswin's assistant stepped up to explain, but his French accent and technical wording made it hard to understand. Dean got the gist, though. The ship was leaning at such a steep angle that it had become impossible to launch the lifeboats safely. If they tried, it would only result in mass injury and death.
Not many people seemed to get this, though. They kept asking the same questions over and over. Eventually, Oswin couldn't take it and snapped out a response that made the reality of the situation unmistakably clear.
"We can't launch any more lifeboats," she said. "We're officially trapped on this sinking ship."
Despite a momentary uproar, the crowd swiftly fell into despondence. Oswin weakly ordered everyone back to the dining hall. With no better ideas coming forth, they all just followed along with it.
Reuniting in the crowd, Dean and Sam exchanged a look. It didn't take much for them to figure out what the other was thinking.
We're fucked.
Once again, thank you all for reading to this point! I feel like this fic took forever to write and put out and the fact that there's a finished product for you all to read is nothing short of a miracle! Please feel free to comment and leave kudos! Just getting some feedback will be enough to make this whole thing feel worth it!
Remember kids, the key to creating art is perseverance!
Originally uploaded on 10/1/2024.
